


it's 3 am (I must be lonely)

by Meridas



Series: warm, unalone (come settle down) [5]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Comfort, Gen, Genderfluid Mollymauk Tealeaf, Nightmares, Other, Queerplatonic Molly/Yasha, Queerplatonic Relationships, Slice of Life, brief angst, but of course everything turns out okay and soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22949767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meridas/pseuds/Meridas
Summary: Sometimes, love is being willing to climb a mountain in your pajamas if your partner has a nightmare. It's also laughing at your partner when he offers to climb a mountain in his pajamas. Mostly, it's coming home.
Relationships: Mollymauk Tealeaf & Yasha
Series: warm, unalone (come settle down) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1607398
Comments: 16
Kudos: 98





	it's 3 am (I must be lonely)

Yasha sits bolt upright, utterly lost and utterly alone in the darkness. Instinctively she calls light to bloom in her hand, and when it shines forth it trembles from the shaking in her body. 

She’s alone. She’s in a tent, not at home. Molly isn’t with her. 

Panic grips her heart even as her mind tries to come to grips with the waking world. It was just a dream, she tries to console herself—but it seemed _so real_ just a moment ago. What if it’s a memory? What if her mind is confusing the real and dreaming worlds, and it’s real, and as soon as the morning comes Molly will still be— 

She scrambles for her phone, throwing her things aside carelessly. Tears blur her vision but she finds it, her heart pounding. Her fingers shake so badly that she almost can’t touch the right spots, but she hits the first name in her favorite contacts and holds the phone to her ear. 

It rings once, twice. Yasha has no idea what time it is; it’s still dark outside. It rings a third time. She squeezes her eyes shut, presses the phone harder against her ear. _It’s fine_ , she tells herself, _it was just a dream, he’s fine, but what if he’s not what if you’re alone—_

The phone clicks in her ear. “ _Y’sha?"_

“Molly,” she gasps, and the sheer relief of hearing his voice, sleepy and confused but alive, crashes her into full wakefulness. She sobs once, pressing her hand over her mouth, and leans forward to rest her forehead on her knees. He’s okay. It was just a dream. Everything is okay. 

“ _Yasha?"_ Molly’s voice is sharper, alarmed and awake now. “ _Are you okay? What’s wrong?”_

“‘M okay now,” she says. She sniffs—gods, she must be a mess. She takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Molly, I woke you up—I’m fine, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“ _What’s the matter, Yash?”_ he asks gently. There’s the sound of sheets shuffling on the other end of the phone, like he’s settling back down and getting comfortable to listen to her. “ _You hardly ever call when you’re out like this, and you know I always love to hear from you but it’s nearly four in the morning, dear. Are you sure you’re okay?”_

“I just—” Yasha wipes her face on her blanket, uncaring. “I just had… I had a nightmare. About you, I was dreaming and you were dead and no one would help me and I just, I needed to make sure it wasn’t real. I’m okay.”

_“Oh, Yasha.”_

“You’re okay, right?” she asks, and it feels stupid and pitiful to even say out loud now that she’s talking to him, but she just needs—part of her still just needs to hear him say it, to make sure. 

“ _I’m okay, sunshine_ ,” he says immediately, and already she can feel her shoulders relaxing. “ _Do you need me to come join you? Because I will. I’ll come out there to whatever mountain you’re on in my pajamas if you need me. Just say the word_.”

Yasha laughs, watery and shaky but it feels so nice. Molly always knows what to say to her. “You don’t sleep in pajamas, you menace,” she says back. The phone is warm against her ear. She eases herself back down into her sleeping back, tucking it safely in the crook of her neck. “You don’t need to climb any mountains, don’t worry.” She hesitates, feels the decision out in her head. There’s no rumble of thunder in her bones to change her mind. “I’m going to come home tomorrow, anyway. Trip’s kind of a bust.” She lets her Light cantrip go out, but the darkness doesn’t press so close anymore. “Will you, um. Can you keep talking, though?”

“ _Of course, love_.” He launches into a story about his day with Jester, meandering through little details about the coffee shop they visited, the colors they painted their nails, his latest thoughts on Sprinkle the world’s most traumatized and belligerent weasel—

She falls asleep to Molly’s voice, soft and reassuring in her ear. 

It’s really only a few more hours before she wakes up, her phone long gone quiet and battery running low, but with one new text waiting for her.

**Molly✨💜:** _I’m okay, and so are you. See you soon xo_

By the time the sun is up she’s already packed and picking her way down the trail. She breaks an awful lot of speeding laws, pushing her bike faster, faster. By incredible luck or the Stormlord’s favor, nothing stops her—it's long past sunset, but she hasn’t got a speeding ticket by the time she pulls into her parking spot. She fumbles through their front door, dropping her things practically on the welcome mat. Then she just stands there for a moment, lost without the buzz of adrenaline and the direction of the road in front of her. 

"Yasha?"

Molly's head sticks out around the corner, and his eyes widen at the sight of her. "Hey," he says, and without a second's hesitation he's across the room and pulling her into his arms. Yasha squeezes her eyes closed and holds him tightly, taking in what feels like her first deep, full breath all day. Molly's hair is damp and smells like jasmine shampoo. He's warm as ever, and she can hold him as tightly as she needs and know that he won't break.

"I thought I wouldn't see you until tomorrow morning," he says, soft and concerned. "Yasha, that drive takes—"

"I, um, maybe sped. A little." She takes another deep breath in, out. "I promise I was safe, Molly. I just wanted to be home."

He grumbles a little bit, something about her driving habits, but she knows it's just empty noise. His fingers tangle gently into her hair, and she knows that she is understood. Molly is with her, in their small home filled with light and love. It settles on her shoulders, soaks warm into her heart and grounds her here, as far away from the dark and loneliness as she can be.


End file.
